Munt Vernon Music invites the public to hear one of the most powerful pieces of music of the 20th century, The Quartet for the End of Time by Olivier Messiaen on Sunday, March 30 at 3 P.M. in Mount Vernon Music Hall. Written when Messiaen and three other musicians were imprisoned in a German POW camp in the early 1940’s, the piece was inspired by verses in the biblical Book of Revelation, and was first played for the composer’s fellow prisoners. Performing it in Mt. Vernon will be Richard Shuster, professor of piano at Texas Women’s University, clarinetist Daryl Coad, cellist Sara Birnbaum Hood and violinist Mark Miller. Pepper Puryear, pastor of First Baptist Church of Mt. Vernon, will read biblical verses that provide context to the sections of the piece. Opening the program will be the Dumka Trio for violin, viola and piano by English composer Rebecca Clarke, with violist Ute Miller. The concert will also allow listeners the chance to view nineteen oil paintings of local scenes by landscape artist Suzanne Kelley Clark.

Tickets are $10 for MVM members, $15 for non-members, and $5 for college students with valid ID. Children's admission through high school is free. (8th grade and younger must be accompanied by an adult ticketholder.) Memberships in MVM start at $25 and are good for the entire season from June 1 through May 31. For more information call Mount Vernon Music at 903-563-3780, or visit www.mountvernonmusic.org.

Mount Vernon Music is a 501(c)(3) organization formed in 2005 to further the performance of classical and other fine music in rural East Texas. Information about the mission and concert schedule of Mount Vernon Music, and historic Mount Vernon Music Hall can be found at the organization’s website.

Supplemental Information:

Pennsylvania native Richard Shuster is Associate Professor of Music and Coordinator of Piano Studies at Texas Woman's University in Denton, Texas. He is a versatile pianist and a dedicated pedagogue and mentor to a diverse class of piano students majoring in piano performance, piano pedagogy, music therapy, music education and liberal arts–music. In addition to applied piano, Dr. Shuster teaches piano pedagogy and piano literature and coordinates the undergraduate class piano program at TWU. His student-centered teaching integrates a natural approach to technique and focuses on injury prevention, sound production, style and professional development. He has appeared as guest teacher at a variety of institutions in the United States and abroad, including the Vienna International Piano Academy in Austria, Marco Polo Festival in Querceto, Italy, and Mukogawa Women’s University in Hyogo, Japan. In the summers of 2007 and 2010, he traveled extensively throughout Taiwan serving as teacher and examiner for the International Piano Performance Examination Committee.

Dr. Shuster was approved for candidacy on the Fulbright Specialist Roster, and the Sigma Alpha Iota music fraternity recognized him as a National Arts Associate for his accomplishments as a distinguished educator and performing pianist. His performance of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue can be heard on Naxos CD American Tapestry with the Lone Star Wind Orchestra, Eugene Corporon conducting. His solo, chamber music and accompanying repertoire are ever-expanding with appearances at a variety of venues including the Focus on Piano Literature–Gabriel Fauré conference at the University of North Carolina - Greensboro, McKinney Musical Arts Society Series in McKinney, Texas, Dorothy McKenzie Price Piano and Master Class Series in Toledo, Ohio, Texas Music Teachers Association Annual Convention, Cornell University Summer Concert Series in Ithaca, New York, Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York, and the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin, Germany. He has been the featured guest on several radio programs including “Music of the Metroplex” and “Art Matters” on WRR Classical 101.1 FM, Dallas/Fort Worth, “Opus Classics Live” on Buffalo Public Radio, and “The Front Row” on Houston Public Radio. Dr. Shuster’s forthcoming CD, Gabriel Fauré, The Complete Nocturnes, owill be released on the Fleur de Son Classics label.

Dr. Shuster earned the Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music in Piano Performance and Related Literature degrees from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and the Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance degree from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. His major teachers were Rebecca Penneys and the late Leonard Hokanson. He was also the recipient of the Fulbright Grant for study at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary where he studied with András Kemenes.

Daryl Coad is an active performer and teacher in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Formerly a member of the Rochester Philharmonic and the New Orleans Symphony, Daryl has also performed with the Chicago Symphony, the Milwaukee Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic and the Dallas Chamber Orchestra. He has been on the faculties of the Brevard Music Center and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he also served as music director for the University Symphony Orchestra. His recordings credits include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Claudio Abbado and Andre Previn, and he was featured on a recording of William Walton’s Façade with David Zinman conducting members of the Rochester Philharmonic. His principal clarinet teacher was Robert Marcellus. Other teachers include Larry Combs, Clark Brody and Robert Listokin. Daryl studied conducting with David Zinman, and holds a B.M. in clarinet performance and an M.M. in conducting, both from Northwestern University. He frequently performs with the Fort Worth Symphony and has been on the faculty of the University of North Texas since 1999.

Originally from Brookline, Massachusetts, cellist Sara Birnbaum Hood performs with orchestras all over North Texas. She received her Doctorate in Cello Performance from the University of Kentucky, where she was a member of the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra, the Niles String Quartet and principal cello of the UK Symphony Orchestra, with whom she also appeared as a soloist. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English from Boston College, a Graduate Performance Diploma from the Longy School of Music and a Master of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Teachers include Richard Weiss, Jennifer Lucht and George Seaman. She has performed in the Atlantic, Firelands and Mansfield Symphony Orchestras and has attended summer festivals including the National Repertory Orchestra, National Orchestral Institute and the Brevard Music Center.

Ute Miller serves as principal violist of the East Texas Symphony, and performs regularly with the Dallas and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras. She has appeared as a soloist with the East Texas Symphony Orchestra. Ute is a founder, treasurer and managing director of Mount Vernon Music Association. Her musical studies include the prestigious Konzertexamen diploma from the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf, and a year at Boston University as a student of Raphael Hillyer, founding member of the Juilliard Quartet. In addition to playing with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, she served for seven years as assistant principal violist of the Gürzenich Orchester-Cologne Philharmonic, and for eight years as principal violist of the Dallas Opera Orchestra.

Presently concertmaster of the East Texas and Longview Symphony Orchestras, violinist Mark Miller also performs with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and other area ensembles. He is a founder and president of Mount Vernon Music Association, a membership-based nonprofit devoted to bringing outstanding performances of classical, cultural and jazz chamber music to underserved audiences in rural Northeast Texas. He also co-directs the chamber series “The Color of Sound” at Texas A&M University – Commerce, where for eleven years he taught and performed as an Artist-in-Residence with his wife, violist Ute Miller, and the ensemble Duo Renard. Their most recent recording, on the Fleur de Son label, is of music by Mozart and contemporary composer Benedikt Brydern. Following studies at SUNY Purchase, Indiana University - Bloomington and Boston University, Mark studied with Jürgen Kussmaul in Germany, where he was assistant concertmaster in the Robert Schumann Chamber Orchestra of Düsseldorf and a member of the Beethoven Orchester Bonn. He has appeared as soloist with the East Texas Symphony Orchestra.